Li Yan wanted to refuse, but in front of Liu Ye, even Cheng Yi didn’t dare be presumptuous. And just like that, Liu Ye took the food box from them.

Seeing this, Li Yan frowned. "Mr. Liu."

Of course, Liu Ye knew in his heart that the Crown Prince was displeased, but there was nothing he could do. He was merely acting on orders. Did he not know that the food box contained snacks personally made by the Empress? Of course he knew. And *that* person knew even more clearly, which was why he had sent him to play the "villain."

A smile plastered on his face, Liu Ye pretended not to understand the Crown Prince’s underlying meaning. "Your Highness, please hurry along. Don’t keep the Emperor waiting. This old slave will take these things from outside the palace to be inspected. If there are no issues, they will naturally be returned to you. Please rest assured, Your Highness."

Li Yan puffed out his cheeks. His little face, which already had some baby fat, now seemed to look even chubbier.

He let out a "humph" and turned to march toward Taiji Palace.

Along the way, the fuming Little Bun walked at a furious pace, as if trying to shake off the detestable Liu Ye behind him.

Unfortunately, with the short legs he had now, it was easy for others to catch up, no matter how fast he walked.

Li Yan and Liu Ye arrived at Taiji Palace one after the other.

Li Yun had already changed out of his casual robes and was seated on the dragon throne.

Hearing the commotion at the entrance, Li Yun raised his head slightly, his gaze falling upon Li Yan as he walked in.

"Your son pays his respects to his Imperial Father."

But this time, the Little Bun’s voice sounded rather defiant.

Li Yun put down the scroll he had casually picked up, his eyes looking coldly at the person kneeling in the hall.

"What, you’re unhappy after a trip out of the palace?" Li Yun asked. "If you’re so unhappy, then there’s no need for you to go out in the future."

This threat struck Li Yan where it hurt most, making him immediately look up. "Your son is not!"

This time, his voice sounded a little aggrieved.

Li Yun felt not a shred of guilt for having threatened his five-year-old son. His attention quickly shifted to the food box Liu Ye was now carrying.

"What is that?" Li Yun asked.

Liu Ye replied respectfully, "Reporting to Your Majesty, this is the food box the Crown Prince brought back from outside the palace. This servant thought that things from outside the palace should always be tested for poison, so I brought it here."

"Open it."

Liu Ye: "Yes."

A little eunuch soon came over with a silver needle to test for poison. Naturally, there was none.

Li Yun descended from the dragon throne and walked over to Liu Ye. Looking at the green balls inside the food box, he gave them a faint glance. "Today is the Qingming Festival. We’ll have these green balls for dinner tonight."

Before Liu Ye could even reply, Li Yan, who had overheard, became anxious.

"No!"

At this point, Li Yan could no longer be bothered with etiquette. He craned his neck to look up at his tall, imposing Imperial Father, his face a mask of stubbornness. "If Imperial Father wishes to eat green balls, the Imperial Kitchen can make them in time... But this portion of green balls, your son wants to take them back to the Eastern Palace himself."

Previously, Li Yun had forbidden all pastries and similar items from the palace. These were the very things that Ming Lingyi used to love making herself. Ever since Ming Lingyi had left, Li Yun forbade any pastry she had ever made from appearing in the palace again.

Therefore, even though today was the Qingming Festival, the Imperial Kitchen had not prepared any green balls.

But Li Yan knew that with a single order from his Imperial Father, the chefs of the Imperial Kitchen would immediately begin preparing the ingredients. They would surely have the green balls ready and delivered to Taiji Palace before dinner.

He felt his refusal and proposal were both perfectly reasonable. This food box was a gift from his mother just for him. He had no intention of sharing it with his Imperial Father, so even his Imperial Father shouldn’t just forcefully take it.

But Li Yan was still too naive.

The moment after he mustered the courage to object to his own father, he saw his Imperial Father unhesitatingly reach into the food box, pick up a green ball, and pop it into his mouth.

Li Yan: "!!!"

The Little Crown Prince had met true gentlemen and true villains, but he had never imagined someone in this world could play so dirty.

’Weren’t we just arguing over who these green balls belonged to a moment ago? Hadn’t we failed to reach an agreement? How could he just eat the green balls my mother made especially for me!’

Liu Ye, standing to the side, wasn’t too shocked by his master’s actions. In Liu Ye’s opinion, as long as it involved the Empress, there was nothing his master could do that would surprise him.

However, he now felt a little too embarrassed to look at the Little Prince’s expression.

’Earlier, I was only "holding onto" the food box for him, and the Little Prince was already furious.’

’And now...’

Li Yan was indeed about to explode with rage.

"Imperial Father!"

Like an agile little kitten, Li Yan suddenly rushed forward. "How could you do that!"

Li Yan stared with wide, accusing eyes.

Li Yun showed no awareness that he was bullying someone. The green balls Ming Lingyi made weren’t large; he finished one in two bites. He had to admit, the taste was excellent.

Li Yun thought, ’It seems there’s no food my Yuan Niang makes that I don’t love.’

"How so?" Li Yun asked.

Compared to Li Yan’s fury, he looked almost unnaturally calm.

Li Yan: "That’s mine..."

Li Yan was on the verge of tears.

The Crown Prince, who had never had his food stolen, was for the first time in his short five years of life, experiencing what it meant to have his meal snatched away.

Worse still, this person was more powerful, more influential, and stronger than him. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

Li Yun certainly didn’t feel like he was bullying anyone. After finishing one green ball, he took out a bowl of lotus seed soup from another container. "Everything under Heaven is mine."

Li Yan: "..."

Li Yun was already walking toward the desk where he usually handled his official duties, gesturing for Liu Ye to follow. He had decided that tonight’s dinner would be the lotus seed soup and the green balls from the food box.

"If you want to eat something, come over here," Li Yun said after sitting back down. Seeing the Little Crown Prince still standing forlornly in the middle of the hall, the last sliver of pity—or perhaps, his conscience—finally stirred.

Li Yan: "!"

Of course, he didn’t want to go eat.

But if he stubbornly refused to eat the green balls his mother had made for dinner, Li Yan strongly suspected the entire box of them would end up in his Imperial Father’s stomach.

Li Yan: "..."

’How despicable!’

Realizing this, Li Yan had no choice but to puff up his cheeks and stomp resentfully toward his Imperial Father’s desk.

Fortunately, the ever-perceptive Liu Ye had already prepared a stool.

Li Yan: "..."

By the time Li Yan returned to the Eastern Palace from Taiji Palace, the food box he had carried into the palace, once filled to the brim, was now completely empty.

It wasn’t that he and his Imperial Father had eaten all thirty green balls in one sitting. Rather, the rest of them had been "confiscated" by his Imperial Father.

Li Yan gritted his back teeth, his little fists clenched tightly, and returned to the Eastern Palace with red-rimmed eyes.

Yu Yi and Yanxia had expected their prince to return to the palace today wreathed in smiles. They knew that on the Qingming Festival, the Little Prince would surely have gone out of the palace to find his mother. But neither of them had expected him to return with red-rimmed eyes, lock himself in his bedchamber, and refuse to see anyone.

Yu Yi and Yanxia looked at each other in dismay, then quickly sent someone to find out what had happened.

When Jianzhen returned and told them that all the food their mistress had made for the Little Prince outside the palace had been "confiscated" by His Majesty the Emperor, Yu Yi and Yanxia were speechless for a long time.

If that was the case, then it was no wonder.